House for rent in Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo

This place is currently not available....currently rented.

I am doing a favour for a guy who purchased my Japan Foreclosed Property report. He has purchased a foreclosed property and wants to rent it out for Y115,000 per month. It is a 2-storey, 2br house in Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo. It is partly furnished, with a living room, kitchen, laundry space, bathroom, 2 restrooms and a big balcony facing south. There is a white leather couch, a bed, chairs, chests, a high-end fridge, washing mashine and dryer. The house is located between Shimomaruko Station and the Tamagawa river. Along the nearby rivers, you can engage readily in relaxation and exercise, i.e. running, cycling or play tennis.

The house is close to various stations:

1. Five minutes walk to Shimomaruko Station

2. Sibuya Sta. in 21 minutes

3. Shinagawa Sta. in 21 minutes

4. Tokyo Sta. in 31 minutes

The house is currently under a minor reform, but will surely will be ready by May 2011.

Pets are OK. If you are interested in renting this house in Tokyo you can contact me through my website and I will refer you to the landlord. Anyone interested in buying foreclosed property in Tokyo might be particularly interested in this opportunity for two reasons:

1. This is a foreclosed property so you can get a sense of the commercial returns on renting foreclosed property

2. This landlord would probably be happy to give you advice (aside from the book I am selling) on how to buy foreclosed property in Japan...since he is the embodiment of the opportunities available.

3. Some buyers who have not lived in Japan might want to avail of this opportunity to rent before you buy. The house is well-located close to central Tokyo.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Renovating a foreclosed home in Kyoto, Japan

It seems there are a few buyers of the Japan Foreclosed Report who are prepared to come out and describe how they are doing it. Understandably not everyone wants to speak. Having said that, the market is huge. We need to remember that Japan did not have an unemployment problem until fairly recently, so unemployment is a potential source of 'fairly new' foreclosures. I think asset deflation would have been a bigger concern for the banks years ago as they sought to clean up their balance sheets. I see in the latest employment statistics that only 65% of new university graduates secured jobs last year - the lowest uptake in decades. We need also to remember the depopulation of rural Japan has resulted in the vacating of properties in those areas. With no tenants, they lie vacant, and are the first assets to be sold off by stressed buyers, who might have ‘over-encumbered’ themselves buying a more expensive 2nd home. i.e. Westerners are accustomed to renovating homes. Japanese people simply tend to build new ones. I don't know why. The old ones are probably not as structural sound, but they work ok by my estimate. It is not the land of financial literacy, so don't expect any of that.

The latest person to give us a description of his experiences buying foreclosed property is a New Zealander married to a Japanese national. He bought a foreclosed house & lot in Kyoto at auction last year. He spent 5 weeks renovating it, presumably whilst holidaying in Japan, since he lives in Auckland. He has placed the property up for auction. He has offered to provide more information, so I look forward to that. Meanwhile, some of his feedback on the Japan Foreclosed Guide ebook:

“The information you supplied was a good indicator of what to expect”.

“I plan to repeat this process this year and purchase a second property”.

"I agree with your opinion that there is great potential in this market which is more than I can say for NZ".

If you are interested in John’s experiences renovating his property, I suggest going to his Japan blog. I also describe my renovation insights in the book, but his were more extensive.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

The humble chopstick - money making miracle

Today I would like to pay homage to the chopstick. After purchasing a property several years ago I greatly profited from the humble chop stick. Far from being simply a eating implement, it is also a versatile cleaning tool. Upon purchasing a property in Japan, some of you will simply contract a local cleaner to clean your home. I did it myself and to good effect thanks to the chopstick. It is particularly useful for cleaning the grime around the bathroom and window frames. You simply break the sticks into 'edged' implements and you get considerable value from what is otherwise a free give-away from your local take-away store.

The other treasure when you are buying a home is the Cainz Home Hardware chain. If or when I buy my next foreclosed property, I will be sure to buy near a Cainz Home store because they simply make renovation very easy. Their products are very reasonably priced, and with so many staff, you are bound to find someone with some level of English skill. They are so helpful I was even able to work things out with sign language, as I have limited Japanese. Check out their website for a location guide to their stores.

Another treasure for me is the Hoka Hoka-tei take-away chain store. I swear you do not want to be located too far away from one of these chain stores. They offer a great array of healthy take away meals for very reasonable prices. I used to always get a salmon and rice dish for Y380 ($US5). Very good meals. Make sure you live near one of those...they are everywhere. You will find them overseas these days, but its not the same menu as in Japan. eg. I have seen them in Australia, the Philippines, but that is a Westernised menu, with a far smaller range of choices.

In Japan they have over 2,000 franchise outlets. Sadly their store locator is only in Japanese, and the Google translator will not work with the Flash software. However, if you click on any 'graphical' 'prefectural button on the map, you will have the option of a scroll-selection in English if you remain in Google Translator, so you can find your nearest store.

The implication is that buying, renovating and living in Japan can be VERY CHEAP. Yes, contrary to popular belief life in Japan is not always the rip-off you might have believed. Food is expensive, but you can eat at izakayas very reasonably. The cost of drinking these days is also very reasonable. I often go to The Hub as a drinking venue in Tokyo and other cities because they attract a lot of foreigners, or Japanese people who want to meet foreigners.

I don't drink much now but the roof-top bars are also good value in you like summer drinking on top of shopping malls. The utilities and eating out in Japan are still expensive, but there are work arounds....some of which are not available in other countries. I can keep my electricity connected for months on a basic monthly service fee in I email them. You can also get pre-paid internet services which make a lot of sense. House insurance is very cheap, as is local government rates. Public transport in Japan is very expensive for inter-city travel, but if you get a few Japan Rail Passes before you go....its exceptionally cheap.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Building vs renovating a house in Japan

Thanks to all those people who have offered feedback on my eBooks. One recent buyer suggested he intended to build a house in Japan.
Actually I don't recommend this; though I strongly recommend refurbishing a place if you have the skills, time and/or courage. The reason for not building is that you are likely going to pay too much for services in a foreign country, and Japanese labour costs are already too high. The more critical reason though is that foreclosed properties are so cheap, and older (over 12 year old) houses are even cheaper, trading at substantial discounts to the market price. You will find properties (depending on how close you need to be from Tokyo or other cities) where you are essentially buying a property for substantially less than just the land value.
Take for instance one of the places I bought, which I have yet to fix up because I use it as a holiday house. It has an 18yo dormitory on it. The land value was around Y22,000/m2 last time I looked, but I got it for Y10,000/m2, and the 18yo 2-story dorm essentially free. I dare say all buyers were looking for a house. You will need to read the book to find out the other reasons why it was cheap. If I internalised the 2nd storey stairs, it would look like a house. This is indeed what a Japanese developer did with the 2nd dormitory behind. He beat me in the next bid for a 2nd dorm by $1,000. He converted his lower quality dorm into a holiday house for some old Japanese man living in Tokorazawa. The retiree wants to live in the city close to services and family, but he uses his holiday house as a weekender for the family. I wish I got there that often.

The other attraction of this property is that it lies outside the designed urban zone, yet the valley in which my place is located, is crammed full of houses. The implication is that the government will eventually rezone the area and add services. This will increase my land value of course significantly. New houses in the area are selling for as much as Y30mil - resort type. I paid Y2.8 million, and I probably have more land than them.

There is of course a trade off between buying a place that requires a lot of expenditure and effort, and buying a place for a discount that won't attract too many buyers, versus a place convenient for Japanese people. Japan is a great place for DIY refurbishments and repairs. I recommend buying near a Cainz Home branch. :)
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com